Friday, April 29, 2016

Today's Special - - Anna Campbell

She's back! Anna Campbell joins us today to answer a few questions about her newest novella, Winning Lord West. It releases April 30th, which means I'll be stalking my Kindle tomorrow morning. I've loved the first two Dashing Widows novellas and can't wait to see what this newest story will bring.

Welcome, Anna! Your
new historical romance, Winning Lord West
(with yet another stunning cover) will be released April 30th.
What can readers expect from this third novella in your Dashing Widows series?

Hi PJ! So glad to be back with in old stamping grounds, the
Romance Dish! Thank you for hosting me today.

Winning Lord West
is a reunion story – Helena and Lord West were childhood sweethearts before she

fell under the dark influence of her horrible (and now dead, hurrah!) husband,
the Earl of Crewe. Over the 11 years since Helena and West parted, they’ve
always had a prickly relationship. She’s one of those characters who hides her
vulnerabilities under a witty and occasionally sharp tongue, and she’s always
blamed West for introducing Crewe to her family as a great guy.

The story starts at the fateful picnic at Richmond that
plays such an important part in The
Seduction of Lord Stone. Lord West tells Helena that things are about to
change, and he intends to pursue her in earnest. Then to his frustration, he
gets sent to Russia on a diplomatic mission so poor Helena is left fuming all
alone, with only his letters to keep her company.

The bulk of the story takes place at the country house party
leading up to Caroline and Silas’s wedding, with lots of chances to catch up
with old friends. And West and Helena have lots of chances for… you know! This
couple made me laugh – sometimes you have to hit your characters with an ax to
get them into bed. NOT with these two!

So what to expect? Obviously plenty of steam! And plenty of sparky
dialogue (well, at least I hope it’s sparky!). Appearances from Caro and Silas,
and Fenella and Anthony. A couple of subtle hints for future Dashing Widows
stories. A wedding for our first Dashing Widow. And a blissfully happy ending.
Oh, and an epilogue for this particular trio of widows that I hope will wrap
everything up in a nice big bow for the readers.

And, yes, isn’t that cover gorgeous?

Oh, that sounds lovely! Winning Lord West
is a first love – second chance romance. What is it about this trope that
appeals to you as a writer?

As a reader, I love reunion stories. It’s interesting – I
haven’t written that many of them. Previous reunion stories of mine are Days of Rakes and Roses and The Winter Wife, both novellas. I think
reunions are amongst the most optimistic of romantic tropes – and let’s face
it, romance is already a terrifically optimistic genre. Reunion stories say
that you get the chance to try again and succeed this time, using the wisdom
that you’ve gained in the time apart. They also have this lovely circular
structure of returning to where you started out and seeing the place/person
with fresh eyes. For novellas, I think reunions work particularly well because
it means you don’t have to do insta-love (although sometimes insta-love is
great fun and I’m certainly not dissing it!).

Like you, I adore second-chance, reunion stories. I enjoyed both that you mentioned with The Winter Wife being a particular favorite.

Here in the U.S., spring is in the air and colorful flowers
are beginning to bloom. Aside from the allergies, it’s one of my favorite times
of the year. Which season is your favorite? What makes it so?

Oh, I so envy your Northern Hemisphere spring, PJ. I’ve been
lucky enough to be in Europe for a couple of springs and I adore the explosion
of life and color after drab winter. You can see why it’s such a powerful
symbol of hope, can’t you? I live in a subtropical part of Australia which is
nice pretty much all the time (think Florida with koalas). We’re heading into
winter here (brrrr, I might have to wear long sleeves in a month!). This is my
favorite time of the year on the Sunshine Coast. Autumn here is glorious –
clear days and crisp nights.

What writing projects are on your schedule this year? Will
there be more dashing widows?

As you’ve probably gathered, at the moment, I’m madly in
love with novellas. I have plans to go back to full-lengthers, but right now,
getting my characters to a happy ending in 150-odd pages suits me down to the
ground. When I started the novella craze, the plan was six, then it became 10.
And I think at the moment, I’m planning another two on top of that (Carey and
Brandon from Tempting Mr. Townsend
are heroes in the making!). The next release is a cute and funny stand-alone (I hope readers agree with me) called Stranded with the Scottish Earl which
will be out 30th June. Then I’m going to start another Dashing
Widows trilogy, with the first book featuring Amy, Silas’s little sister, who
makes a brief appearance in Winning Lord
West. Then I’m involved in a top secret Christmas project. Ooh, mysterious.

Oh, I would love to eventually see stories for Carey and Brandon!

I have an Amazon gift card that’s burning a hole in my
pocket. Have you discovered any books that should be on my reading radar?

Ooh, so glad you asked. As some of you know, for a few years,
I did a column here called Second

Helping where I recommended classic or older romances
that might have gone under readers’ radar. Having said that, I haven’t been
reading a lot of romance lately. I’ve only just started discovering Agatha
Christie so she’s keeping me busy, and I’m reading the Cadfael books by Ellis
Peters and just loving those. Both AC and EP include romances in most of their
stories, but they’re definitely not the focus of proceedings! Last year was
also the year of Nora Roberts for me – I had an absolute craze on her stories and
I couldn’t tell you how many I got through.

A couple of romance standouts from the last six months or so
are Susan Sey’s Blake Brothers series (I think they would be my favorite
reading from last year) and The Shadowy
Horses by Susanna Kearsley which is a wonderful time slip novel with a great
romantic relationship at its heart.

I love to snack on a mixture of raisins, chocolate chips and
cashews while losing myself in one of your stories. Do you have a favorite
snack that you nibble on while writing?

Oh, now I have a lovely picture of you snacking away while
you read Winning Lord West. I
approve! I’m a sucker for potato chips. The myth is that writers love chocolate
(and obviously I like chocolate – who doesn’t like chocolate?), but any potato
chip that crosses my threshold is immediately under threat!

You’ll be traveling to the U.S. later this year. Will you be
attending any conferences or book signings where readers will have the
opportunity to meet you in person?

I’m coming to Spokane in September for the Historical
Romance Retreat where I’m so excited that I’ll get to catch up with you, PJ –
and a lot of other dedicated historical romance fans. Here’s the website: http://www.historicalromanceretreat.com/
There’s a huge signing open to the public there on Saturday, 24th
September. At this stage, I can’t confirm any other appearances – partly
because I haven’t worked out my travel arrangements! That’s a task for the next
week or so! Watch this space.

I'm so excited to see you in person again, Anna. It's been six years!

Thanks for visiting with us. Would you like to ask our
readers a question today?

Thanks again for hosting me, PJ. I always love visiting the
Dish.

PJ asked me what my favorite season is. I’d love to know
yours and why. People who leave a comment are in the running for 2 Kindle downloads
of Winning Lord West. Good luck!

All rakes are the same! Except
when they’re not…

Spirited Helena, Countess of
Crewe, knows all about profligate rakes; she was married to one for nine years
and still bears the scars. Now this Dashing Widow plans a life of glorious
freedom where she does just what she wishes – and nobody will ever hurt her
again. So what is she to do when that handsome scoundrel Lord West sets out to
make her his wife? Say no, of course. Which is fine, until West focuses all his
sensual skills on changing her mind. And West’s sensual skills are renowned far
and wide as utterly irresistible…

Passionate persuasion!

Vernon Grange, Lord West, has
long been estranged from his headstrong first love, Helena Nash, but he’s
always regretted that he didn’t step in to prevent her disastrous marriage. Now
Helena is free, and this time, come hell or high water, West won’t let her escape
him again. His weapon of choice is seduction, and in this particular game, he’s
an acknowledged master. Now that he and Helena are under one roof at the year’s
most glamorous house party, he intends to counter her every argument with
breathtaking pleasure. Could it be that Lady Crewe’s dashing days are numbered?

Aussie Anna Campbell is a self-confessed bookaholic and is very proud of her shady past as a regular contributor to the Romance Dish. Her historical romances have won numerous awards, including the 2015 Australian Romantic Novella of the Year.

35 comments:

My favorite season always has been and always will be summer. I adore warm, sunny weather and never want to experience any other. I had to work hard to finally retire in my beloved Florida and I have to plans to ever leave.

Congratulations on your new release, Anna! (I guess you are about to get fall weather coming soon, right?)

Hi Anna, and PJ. My favorite season here in Florida is Spring. I love the cooler temperatures (well, if you can call 80 degree weather cooler, that is). Anna, I love anything that you write. I only read print books, so I guess that I'm missing out on a lot of your wonderful, and steamy reads.

Hi Diane! Yes, Florida is definitely like where I live on the east coast of Australia. I remember when I went to Orlando for RWA in 2010 how very familiar it all seemed. I'm not actually a huge fan of hot, humid weather so summer's not my fave here.

When I was teaching, my favorite season was summer because we had that time off from school. Now that I am retired, fall is my favorite. I love the changing colors, the cooler temps, and the beginning of college football season. :-)

Cheryl, I'm really looking forward to seeing Spokane in the autumn. PJ, do you think the leaves will be changing? I'm also wondering how cold it is likely to be. We're in our football season down here right now. It's cricket in summer and football in winter.

I've always loved Spring the most. It's so wonderful to see the green and flowers and hear the birds and not have to bundle up in boots and coats and deal with ice and snow. I planned both my children to be born in spring and it worked - one is April 20th and the other May 3rd! Congrats on your new novella!

Catslady, down here, you don't want to be approaching the end of your pregnancy in summer! I had a friend who spent most of her last two months in a swimming pool because it was just unbearable in the heat. Thanks for the congrats. I'm excited about this one!

Leslie, in 2004, I was lucky enough to have 4 months in the UK and as I slowly travelled north, spring seemed to follow me so I got the bluebells and the lambs all the way up to the top of Scotland. Lovely memories.

Hi Anna, Welcome back! My absolute favorite season is spring. It is the time of the year that Mother Earth wakes up and starts the process of showing us all her beauty. I never get tired of everything that starts to bloom.

I'm dropping in late after a hectic day to say hi to dear Anna. I'm loving the Dashing Widows novellas, and I am especially looking forward to Winning Lord West since the reunion trope is my favorite. I preordered it, so it should be on my Kindle in a few hours.

As for seasons, although I am convinced that spring in the South is one of the most beautiful sights on earth, autumn is my favorite season. Spring makes me lazy and dreamy; fall energizes me. I always feel that anything is possible in October. :)

Janga, how lovely you're enjoying my Dashing Widows! Thank you so much! I've been looking forward to writing Helena and West's story since I started the series. Right from the first, they seemed to strike sparks off each other. I've seen photos on FB of spring in the South - the beautiful dogwoods and magnolias. Gorgeous! Yes, I find autumn really energizing too. Genetically I'm not made for hot sticky weather. I'm built for the frozen tundra!

Thanks so much to PJ for hosting me today and thank you to everyone who swung by to say hello! I always love visiting the Romance Dish. Keep an eye out for who won the two downloads of WINNING LORD WEST! Good luck!

Fall/Autumn is my favorite season. I love the crisp days and nights. The colors of the leaves are glorious and the fall harvest brings us apples and other fare. Spring is a close second, but Fall will always be my favorite. I am not a fan of summer heat and humidity, and Fall signals the end to it.

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